ALH TDI engine transplant into '84 Vanagon

Finally got to the garage.

I connected both Accelerator Pedals to my 2000 Jetta........ they work flawlessly.

I've re-checked the continuity on the 6 circuits from the accelerator pedal to and thru the Blue connector using a different setting on the multi-meter .... all 6 circuits were at 0.007 ohms. The jumper wire I am using is rather long. So, that reading could actually be lower (better).

....... back to chasing ideas!

Have you considered re-pinning your ECU plug and make a short test lead to a pedal plug to see if that works just for testing?

Alright .......... cut the 6 wires off at the soldered splices (about 8 inches from the Accelerator connector), peeled 'em and plugged them directly into the short plug connector (my work) near the Blue Connector ..... Presto! Works!

Looks like I may need a back-seat "Accelerator" ..........LOL

So, now, the $100.00 question.........considering the Ohms resistances was basically the same for all six circuits, where do I go from here?

My guess would maybe be that you have too many splices? I'd solder all connections and use adhesive lined heat shrink on them all. Use minimum possible splices.

Is a liquid nitrogen cooled super conductor accelerator pedal wiring harness out of the question?

I never had any problems with long wires on mine, used cat5 phone line initially, then swapped to 18 gauge wires as the cat5 wire's insulation was wearing through. Its really weird that you didn't have problems for a while and then did all of a sudden :-/

Well, I removed bits of old tape, snipped off the balance of the solder joints, cleaned the wires with acetone, etc., then stripped and twisted each individually and wrapped temporarily with brown masking tape ............ Presto! Accelerator works.

Those joints were twisted, then soldered with rosin based lead and individually wrapped with 3M electrical tape made in the USA (Minnesota, I believe). There had never been a hint of an issue until last Monday morning.

Well, as I may have posted earlier, occassionally since I've been doing the diagnostics there would be a DTC for brake switch. As I also stated, it is a new switch..... may need a slight adjustment (felt cushion).

For those that are not aware, the brake switch device has two switches internally. One switch is normally open (that's for the brake lights and ECU monitoring of same) the other switch is normally closed. It is for the ECU to know if Cruise is in operation and to dis-engage if you tap the brake.

So, the brake switch should only affect the present situation on the cruise side (normally closed) since I ain't braking here in the garage. I did use a jumper on those two center connections while doing the research. But, I also re-plugged the connector to the brake switch and continued to get the same results from the accelerator. Also, the ohms resistance was the same using the jumper as with the brake switch in place.

So, I guess the bottom line is this, even with the wires twisted and soldered, there must have been a difference in resistance in some of the circuits to affect ECU function which it didn't like.......... thus my problem(s) ..........

Dang, I am sure glad I wasn't on the Pennsylvania Turn Pike .... or ???

Okay, I plan to do some more testing and then put this thing back together........ darn lot of work yet to do before departing on the 28th!

glad you got it sorted ... my initial throttle wiring was with red butt connectors and i had mucho trouble .... second round i used small gauge clear butt connectors with heat shrink hot glue and no trouble since

Well, this entire ordeal helped me identify a couple of other culprits that I knew were present. So, it wasn't a total waste of time...... and challenged my ability to do diagnostics on this contraption..... (of course, I did lean heavily on you guys for help and support, THANKs)

I just finished a 65 mile test run .... everything seems okay!

There's still a little wiggle (up and down) with the speedometer from about 48 mph to about 62 mph.... above or below that range the needle is very smooth. Of course, in that range, the Cruise really plays with the engine. I'd hoped that re-visiting the various connections might have eleminated that electrical grimlin.

How is the signal getting from your trans to the speedo pickup?

Jack, the Vanagons come with a "ticker box" (I think that's what it is called) that set a light off in the cluster every 20k miles............. seems it was something to do with reminding of maintenance and maybe to check the OX sensor.

Anyway, that box has a speed-o-cable to it that's powered by the left front wheel. Anyway, the outlet side of the box is where the speed-o-cable that goes on up to the cluster is screwed on. Luckily, I discovered that the fitting was the same as the head from the VSS off the Jetta transmission.

So, that's where the VSS gets it's speed input. However, the wheel turns it much slower than the gearing of the Jetta transmission. Now, that's where the Dakota Digital Interface comes into play. The Three wires from the VSS go to the Interface with one wire coming off to the Cluster............... that's about it!

Below, on the right, the three wire plug fits on the end of the VSS.



Below, two of the wires from the VSS go here (sensor and input)

Notice the UP and Down switches. Those are used to adjust speedometer pointer with actual GPS speed...... while moving of course. Seems I am using Out 1.............. with 1 and 4 up and 2 and 3 down (there to the left of the up and down switches)


Below, another view showing the area it is mounted.


The above info was documented earlier in the Thread!

Its been a while sine I messed with the speedo of a vanagon, but my stock speedo cable did break, and before I replaced it the speedo needle would bounce at ~50 MPH, and my cruise wasn't happy about it. Once I installed a new speedo cable the needle had no bounce and the CC worked great.

My 91's speedo bounced when the cable was binding. Some drops of AFT down the cable helped things out...

-J

Well, you know, I've wondered if there was some binding going on! Early on, I did take the box apart and lube it. The short run of cable from the box back to the wheel hub may be the problem. Also, the VSS head from the Jetta may need a small amount of lube.............after all, in it's original state of use there was lube in the scheme of things.

Thanks for the tips/thoughts. I'll check it out!

Sound system in............ now, there's not a big Single Din hole in the dash (wife pleased).

Okay, for some strange reason (electrical, no doubt), occasionally, after the engine is completely warmed-up, on a re-start, it will default to a fast idle. Otherwise, it seems to run fine.

The Speedometer/Cruise is really acting up. Today, although I was only doing about 62 mph according to speedometer (65 GPS), when I engaged the Cruise..... it sped-up to 70 mph and leveled off there. Sort of scary.

I have a new NOS short end (at the wheel) speedometer cable on the way. It should be here by Friday. Also, I have another VSS head. So, surely those and maybe some new wiring up to the Dakota Digital Interface will clear-up the crazy speedometer and smooth-out the Cruise.

I appreciate all the replies and PMs relating to the recent issues I've been experiencing!

I had my Van weighed today .... 3840 lbs. That included me at about 155 lbs, 25 pounds of tools, and miscellaneous of about 20 lbs. As best I can tell, based on odometer/GPS, there should have been about 11 gallons of fuel in the tank.

So, net weight, including fuel, would be close to 3640 pounds! (1.651.09 kilograms, if I got the conversion correct).

That's a little heavier than I thought it would be! (must be all that Dynamat, and I am going to add some more)

When I would fill my westy with food water and tools to go build a concrete skatepark it weighed 4700-4800 pounds, I'd still get 31-32 MPG pretty consistently loaded like that. I actually weight my vehicles pretty often, there is a free truck scale not far from me.

Yeah, I've had some of my T4s up over 5000 pounds. Still well under GVWR. Transporters can hold quite a bit of weight. My syncro was certainly the portliest at curb weight, I think it was over 4000 pounds empty.

Dang, I spent a long day tinkering with the Van. I've totally "re-done" the engine bay area. Pics will be posted after the Fest!

I was hoping to have received a new lower end speedometer cable today. Maybe Monday! Oiling the present cable did not help the bouncy speedometer reading. The cable does tend to "flip/click/jerk" as I rotate the tire. I suspect that is the issue with the speedometer. I re-checked all wiring connects, etc.

Okay, out of the garage at about 8:45 tonight. Over the last few days (besides chasing electrical gremlins), I've been finishing-up the sound deadening project as well as "tiding" up the engine bay area and a little more.

Anyway, we took it on a 35 mile drive tonight.......... the results are very impressive. 70 mph is much quieter............... 85 sounds about like 70 use to.

Here's the run-down on the sound deadening (some stuff was posted previously, so some of this is a re-peat).

1. Removed the old OE "stuff" on top of the flat area around the engine bay lid (propane torch made it very easy to flake loose).
2. Replaced it with Dynamat.
3. Filled in the curves, cracks, etc., adjacent to the Dynamat with a thinner (not much thinner) similar material no-name brand.
4. The floor slope from the engine bay under the back seat down to the floor area, I cleaned with mineral spirits and capped over the OE stuff with the thinner material.
5. I covered all of it with double-sided aluminum foil sound deadener (similar to bubble wrap but very small bubbles). (lots of contact glue as well as spray glue)
6. While I had the inside panels off, I added bits of Dynamat and the other brand to the outer metal body panels.
7. I also installed the aluminum foil wrap in selected areas inside the panels.
8. I installed the other brand sound deadener in the air down shoots.
9. I installed the aluminum wrap inside the air filter housing.
10. I capped the air intake hole to the air filter housing with an insulated stainless steel "dog bowl." (really, perfect fit) I oriented the intake hole toward the rear.

Unfortunately, while we were out on the trial run, I got the flashing GP light and a DTC of P1650 .......... something to do with the ECU communicating with the cluster. Apparently that canceled the cruise control. May have something to do with everything being unplugged due to having the back seat out.

Well, I am basically out of time before hitting the road to Bethel, Maine for the TDI Fest. So, it will show-up as is. If I do a road trip Thread, I'll post a link from here......not sure if I will or not!

I apologize for not posting pics. Seems while cleaning up the virus issues on my PCs a few weeks ago, brother wiped out my photo program (he's here tonight re-installing everything)

Good luck and safe travels!!!

AndyBees said:

Unfortunately, while we were out on the trial run, I got the flashing GP light and a DTC of P1650 .......... something to do with the ECU communicating with the cluster. Apparently that canceled the cruise control. May have something to do with everything being unplugged due to having the back seat out.

Click to expand...

Do you still have a mk4 cluster hidden somewhere? For Pete's sake get an immo delete/standalone operation tune at fest from Rocketchip or one of malone's dealers!

Whitbread said:

Do you still have a mk4 cluster hidden somewhere? For Pete's sake get an immo delete/standalone operation tune at fest from Rocketchip or one of malone's dealers!

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Covered

As JFettig says, it's covered!

Yes, I do have the MK4 Cluster ........ sitting right in the center of the area where OE Vanagon Cluster use to sit!

I do have the immobilizer in use (two key system, no other Vanagon has that, double anti-theft)

Other than the need to do as you have suggested, I think there are two areas that need to be revisited. First, all soldered splices need to be replaced with twisted wire with shrink tube! And, second, some of the spade connectors were el-cheapo, as all that was available at the time. Snip those off and replace. ..... and..re-visit all grounding!

Well, we are about to take another short road trip of about 50 miles this morning

Gees! It's been a long time since I last detailed a vehicle, especially as big as a Vanagon. And, it ain't finished ................LOL.

How long can wax be left on before buffing/rubbing it off?

Dang, I am tired and we are supposed to leave early in the morning heading for Bethel, Maine!

AndyBees said:

How long can wax be left on before buffing/rubbing it off?

Click to expand...

That depends, do you have an electric buffer?

jackbombay said:

That depends, do you have an electric buffer?

Click to expand...

Yeah, but I am out of time. We are leaving here in about an hour or so (on later than 9:00 am).

I'm taking stuff with me. So, we plan to stop some where along the way today and rub it out...

AndyBees said:

As JFettig says, it's covered!

Yes, I do have the MK4 Cluster ........ sitting right in the center of the area where OE Vanagon Cluster use to sit!

I do have the immobilizer in use (two key system, no other Vanagon has that, double anti-theft)

Other than the need to do as you have suggested, I think there are two areas that need to be revisited. First, all soldered splices need to be replaced with twisted wire with shrink tube! And, second, some of the spade connectors were el-cheapo, as all that was available at the time. Snip those off and replace. ..... and..re-visit all grounding!

Well, we are about to take another short road trip of about 50 miles this morning

Click to expand...

Safe trip, Andy

Hey, have you read this thread before? Why you should not use solder on wiring harnesses.

I think it's a pretty informative thread that might help you.

nicklockard said:

Safe trip, Andy

Hey, have you read this thread before? Why you should not use solder on wiring harnesses.

I think it's a pretty informative thread that might help you.

Click to expand...

No hadn't read the Thread .... Wow! That's good info. I think it is obvious I need to go back and eliminate all solder splices.

EDIT: >> ^ That Thread/Info was posted well after I had finished 99% of the wiring connections in my project. Since all "my" wiring is either inside the vehicle or inclosed in water tight conduit under the van, I seriously doubt corrosion is the issue. I believe the difference in resistance to current flow at solder joints affects ECU function. Remember, current flows on the surface of the conductor, not inside. So, a hot soldered joint generally provides a short section that current goes from copper to lead then back to copper........ resistance probably depends on distance.

Well, we made it from Southeast Kentucky to Frostburg, Maryland (just shy of 500 miles) today.

For now, the speedometer has fixed itself.... We were on some bad beaten highway in Charleston, WV... As I was driving up I-79, I looked down and noticed the speedometer was smooth as silk. Earlier in the day, it had been jumping up to 90 mph and then all the way to zero, but mostly slowly going up and down by 10 mph or more regardless of my speed..

Anyway, I used the Cruise for over 100 miles with no kick-outs, even on some rough road. So, it's pretty obvious the problem is a "connection" somewhere.

The first fill-up resulted in 30.195 mpg. The driving involved some 4-lane with unlimited access highway having lots of scattered traffic lights. I did run up to 75 mph a good number of times... but mostly I stayed around 65 mph (all data is based on GPS numbers) and ran the AC all day. My wife loaded everything in the Van accept the kitchen stove.

We should (will) make Bennington, VT tomorrow.

AndyBees said:

No hadn't read the Thread .... Wow! That's good info. I think it is obvious I need to go back and eliminate all solder splices.

EDIT: >> ^ That Thread/Info was posted well after I had finished 99% of the wiring connections in my project. Since all "my" wiring is either inside the vehicle or inclosed in water tight conduit under the van, I seriously doubt corrosion is the issue. I believe the difference in resistance to current flow at solder joints affects ECU function. Remember, current flows on the surface of the conductor, not inside. So, a hot soldered joint generally provides a short section that current goes from copper to lead then back to copper........ resistance probably depends on distance.

Well, we made it from Southeast Kentucky to Frostburg, Maryland (just shy of 500 miles) today.

For now, the speedometer has fixed itself.... We were on some bad beaten highway in Charleston, WV... As I was driving up I-79, I looked down and noticed the speedometer was smooth as silk. Earlier in the day, it had been jumping up to 90 mph and then all the way to zero, but mostly slowly going up and down by 10 mph or more regardless of my speed..

Anyway, I used the Cruise for over 100 miles with no kick-outs, even on some rough road. So, it's pretty obvious the problem is a "connection" somewhere.

The first fill-up resulted in 30.195 mpg. The driving involved some 4-lane with unlimited access highway having lots of scattered traffic lights. I did run up to 75 mph a good number of times... but mostly I stayed around 65 mph (all data is based on GPS numbers) and ran the AC all day. My wife loaded everything in the Van accept the kitchen stove.

We should (will) make Bennington, VT tomorrow.

Click to expand...

I was thinking of the vibration-related content--that it might help you here.